I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine...

Hey all! Midterms and papers are done for now, so now is as good of a time as any to write. I'm a little bit sleep-deprived when I'm writing (again haha) so I apologize in advance for anything that's off.

Anyways, I figured I'd continue on the path I was going on before and look at more social psych techniques for advertising and persuasion. For any that may recall from the last post, the four common techniques are norm of reciprocity, door-in-the-face (DITF), foot-in-the-door (FITD), and lowballing. I talked a little bit about DITF on the last post, so the one I want to focus on this time is the norm of reciprocity.

The norm of reciprocity is the idea that whenever someone does something for us, we tend to be willing to do something for them in return. In other words, if I do something for you, you're more likely to do something for me. This is supposed to be a very normal and accepted standard in today's culture, yet those that aren't aware it is can be taken advantage of...

Not that the further tarnishing of the reputation of used-car salesmen is needed, but the norm of reciprocity is supposed to be one of their most common techniques. When people come to used-car lots, the dealer usually offers them a cup of coffee, free of charge. The car dealer could easily sell coffee instead of giving it away for free, so what's the point? Evidence has shown that when people receive this free "gift", they are more likely to compensate by doing some form of favor to the used-cars salesman.

An example of this is best seen in a classic norm of reciprocity experiment that involves a used-car salesman, a student selling tickets (a confederate), and the participant. The participant comes onto the lot and is either offered a free cup of coffee from the used-cars salesman, the confederate, or is not offered a cup of coffee (the control condition). After the coffee is offered, the confederate asks the participant if they are willing to buy some raffle tickets for a fundraiser their school is having. The results indicated that there was no significant difference of tickets bought in the no coffee or used-car salesman conditions; but, a significant difference was found in the number of tickets bought when the student was the one that offered the participant the cup of coffee.

The results indicate that we are more likely to help someone that helped us, which is what we established as the norm of reciprocity. I don't know if experiments have been done to signify to what degree we are willing to help, but even just small favors seem to have big effects in terms of repayment of favors. Helping one out when they help you out doesn't have to be a bad thing, of course, but when people know social functions work this way, that's when things can become questionable... The best example I can think of is an anecdote from one of my old professors, Dr. Phelan. He told us a story of how he had to call up a friend one day to take him to the airport. The whole ride, his friend mentioned/complained about how much effort it took to get him there. At the end of the ride, Phelan said that he felt pretty bad and guilty for asking the guy to drive him. Yet, to this day, the person hasn't asked Phelan for a favor back. Instead, every now and then, when they're hanging out, the person reminds Phelan of that one favor of driving him to the airport way back when and how he still hasn't asked for his favor to be repaid. Thus, this person has a constant guilt-trip over Phelan, and that one day when he needs a really big favor done, Phelan said he'll probably feel guilty enough to help him out.

In that case, I don't even know if that would be proper behavior for a "friend"... Moral of the story, though, is to be careful of those who you ask to help you out (wow, that sounds really paranoid in hindsight)... But, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes people are willing to do you favors not because they know you need help, but what they can get in return. I don't remember the experiments that cite it, but I know Lieberman mentioned studies in which the closer people are, the less of a focus on reciprocation there is. In other words, closer friends are able to do each other favors without expecting something in return. That can be a testament of the strength of a friendship; but, in that case, a person can also be taken advantage of if they do too many favors for a friend who doesn't reciprocate. So, I guess the main idea is that overlooking favors and what not every now and then can be an indicator of a healthy relationship. Yet, when too many favors are done without reciprocation, that can be a negative sign as well. Thus, as it seems to be a common theme for many things of life, perhaps a balance between the two views is the healthiest way to go... But ok, that's enough for now. I'll be back to writing s'more soon enough! For now, I think I'm gonna go get some sleep...